COLES MANOR

Ariel had woken up in the morning, feeling nauseous without vomiting. At this point, she became concerned about her health, so she decided to take a bath and get ready to go to the clinic to consult with the doctor. She arrived at exactly ten o’clock in the morning, and their family doctor assisted her immediately.

“So, Mrs. Cole. Do you mind telling me what you are concerned about? Tell me about the symptoms you are having,” Doctor Jones says, sitting across the desk with his hands on the table, focusing on Ariel’s swollen eyes.

“Well, I don’t even know how to explain it either, but I’ve been feeling nausea pretty often. I admit I have been stressed out pretty much, and it might be triggering my body to react, and also, I am late on my period,” Ariel confessed to the doctor who smiled in return, looking at the clueless innocent woman in front of him.

“Have you vomited since?” He asked.

“Yesterday in the late morning. Could it possibly be food poisoning?” Ariel wondered, pondering all sorts of questions in her head.

“I do not think it could be food poisoning, Ariel. Do you mind if I do a couple of tests on your body?”

“Will those couple of tests include needles?” Ariel cautiously asked.

Doctor Jones chortle and got up.

“It will be a quick jab, I promise,”

Doctor Jones asked her to follow him to the bed and lie down so that she could relax her body as she appeared very anxious to him. He couldn’t help but wondered what could have stressed her and made her cry so much until her eyes got swollen this much. He couldn’t help but wonder if it had anything to do with her husband, who is his best friend.

“To get the best results, I need you to remain calm on this bed for five minutes while I prepare the equipment. Will you do that for me?” The doctor asked, as if asking a toddler.

“Yes, okay,” Ariel nodded and closed her eyes.

The doctor returned a couple of minutes later to start with the tests, but he was surprised to see tears falling down from the corners of her eyes, wetting the pillow on the bed.

“Mrs. Coles, as per doctor’s order, I asked you to calm down, yet you are crying. What is the matter? Do you want to talk about it?”

“No…” Ariel quickly shook her head. “I’m sorry. I was just thinking about something that made me sad, but it’s nothing. Please, let us continue,” Ariel said, wiping her tears off her face.

Something was worrying her. She thought of leaving the city, but she had no idea where she would go to, and nevertheless, she was not planning to go home to her parents or tell them about the divorce yet.

“What am I going to do? I can’t just up and leave without a plan.” She pondered in her mind as the doctor checked her blood pressure, which was quite abnormally high.

The doctor was not impressed at all because it was a red zone for her. If she continued stressing, she might find herself collapsing in the street or passing out while driving.

“Your blood pressure is very high. I cannot let you leave this room until I am satisfied with the results, so I will put a litre of a drip on you, then you can leave as soon as it gets finished. I hope you don’t have anywhere to go,”

“Okay,” Ariel did not have the energy to argue.

The doctor ran more tests, and while waiting for the results, he set up a drip for her and told her that he also added some sedative to put her mind to sleep.

Thankfully, the results returned just before she was knocked out. The doctor made it possible for him to tell her just before she fell asleep so that she woke up calmly and refreshed.

“You have no diseases or whatsoever. However, one thing that I had suspected which came out positive is that you are pregnant. Congratulations, Mrs. Jones,” The doctor complemented her, but her shocked face remained frozen, and she was unable to move her lips to speak.

After processing the news for a while and feeling her eyes getting heavier, she made a request to the doctor.

“Doctor Jones, as you know, I am under my… I mean, I am under Chase’s medical aid, and I am pretty sure he was notified with my visit here. If he–“

Ariel did not finish her sentence but mumbled in her sleep. The little that she said made the doctor understand what she was requesting from him, so he nodded.

“Don’t worry, I will keep it confidential.” The doctor answered as he closed the curtain and left her to sleep.

***

In the afternoon, lunch was being prepared at the Coles’ family mansion as Chase promised to come home to eat lunch with his family. He decided to bring along Monica, who was very excited to go there because his mother and her got along pretty well, although his mother loved Ariel like one of her daughters too.

Monica has been visiting Coles' Manor for two months without Ariel’s knowledge. Whenever Chase did not come home to Ariel, he would spend the night here with Monica.

“Babe, do you think that your grandfather will like these slippers?” Monica asked, showing him the slippers she got for his grandfather.

Chase still has both his grandparent’s, but they divorced two decades ago, and he does not really do well with his grandfather. He would rather leave Brooklyn to live with his grandmother in London, where his grandmother is and understands him.

“I never really know what goes through that old man’s mind. I wouldn’t know,” Chase responded casually.

“Well, I know that your mother will love these flowers. Come on, let’s not keep them waiting,” Monica said in anticipation as she opened the door of the car.

“I need to make a quick work call. You go ahead, and I’ll follow you shortly,”

Monica did not mind. Of course, she has been here a couple of times, so she wouldn’t feel lost.

“No problem. Just don’t take too long, okay?” Monica remarked and kissed Chase on his lips before she left.

Chase immediately grabbed his phone and called Jones’s Private Clinic.

“Hey, Chase… what’s up?” Doctor Jones answered.

“Jordan. I received an emailed statement from my medical bill. Besides my w—” Chase paused and sighed. “Besides Ariel and I, there isn’t anyone else, so because of that, I figured Ariel was there today. Why?” He continued, speaking firmly.

“Unfortunately, due to the doctor and patient confidentiality, I cannot disclose any information regarding her visit today. But you are welcome to ask her,”

“I don’t need to know. You just need to confirm that she was not trying to commit suicide,”

“What!? Why would she do that?!” Doctor Jones exclaimed over the phone.

Chase breathed out in relief because he wouldn’t want to blame himself if Ariel hurt herself because of him. Who knows what went through a woman’s mind when they were angry and hurt.

“That’s what I needed to know. Goodbye,” Chase ended the call and went to the house.

***

Around the dining area in the porch, everyone settled for lunch as it was being served. Chase’s younger brother was also there to join them for lunch, although he had work to do, he couldn’t miss the drama that was yet to happen around the table between Chase and their grandfather who isn’t very happy with Chase for bringing another woman who was not Ariel.

Worse, Chase did not tell anyone about the divorce.

“Why isn’t Ariel here?” Grandpa Piet asks, darting his eyes between Chase and Monica, who could not keep up with Grandpa Piet’s gaze.

“That’s what I would like to know, too. Did anyone even tell her about the lunch that we are having here?” Caleb, Chase’s younger brother, enquired.

Chase shot deadly eyes at him, giving him a warning.

“She has no reason to be here. Our divorce is being processed as we speak,”

“What!?” Grandpa Piet hit the table with his hands balled in fists.

“Chase, why didn’t we know that you two were getting divorced?” Lisa, Chase’s mother asked, looking at Monica, then her son.

Monica felt a pang of hurt in her heart as she thought it would be good news to Lisa’s ears as she had already accepted that she and Chase were back together.

“We could have discussed it as a family. You two were married off by this family, and before you got divorced, it was supposed to go through the family first,” Lisa was fumed, and Monica was getting uncomfortable.

“This is my affair, and I will handle it my way. I do not need your say in my personal life,” Chase declared.

“This is interesting,” Caleb hinted with a smile on his face, then bored his eyes at Monica, whose heart pounded hard it could actually be seen through her dress on her chest..

“Call Ariel, now!” Grandpa ordered Chase.

“No need!” A voice sounded, and it was not coming from the table.

They all looked back, only to notice Ariel standing on the sliding door entrance from the house.

Monica frowned in annoyance.

“What is this bitch doing here!?” She asked herself in her mind.